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Btw, I'm sorry this ended up in the Dressage forum, that was an "oops" on my part! I meant to put it in Off Course but I happened to be here when I hit the "New Thread" button; I didn't realize it was in this forum until after the fact. Sorry!

*friend of bar.ka

"Evidently, I am an unrepentant b*tch, possible trouble maker, and all around super villian"

Thank you everyone who shared videos! Interesting how much different the riders positions looked in the old examples. The horses look much smoother when the rider isn't all hunched up (how did that ever start?). The grey shown cantering outside looked like a blast on trails!

Re: the original video. Wonder how making a horse move that extremely affects their long term soundness? Seems like it would be very hard on the horses.

L2J, I don't get the impression "soundness," long or short term, at all figures into the decision calculus.

Yes, I look at that original video and can't imagine asking a horse to do that even for a month of training and having it stay sound (Of course if it moved like that I don't know if I could tell). It makes me cringe watching their back legs.

There is no "big lick" in Canada, so watching Walkers here is quite pleasant. They tend to be bred to be smooth and sensible rather than flashy, and are marketed more for trails/hunting. Nice breed when more moderate.

There is no "big lick" in Canada, so watching Walkers here is quite pleasant. They tend to be bred to be smooth and sensible rather than flashy, and are marketed more for trails/hunting. Nice breed when more moderate.

The ones here are for trail riding no one shows in this area and so they are big and put together very well. Bred for looks and endurance and strength.

They will lie and say they GO like that without the training but Ive ridden quite a few and can say that is NOT the case! If you let them early they will trot and if you train them to gait they will gait but none of them will be quite so big moving without "help'.

I have a very uneducated question...are these horses permanently screwed up? Or are there rescues out there who can take these guys (once they'reretired or done showing), and let them back down, both physically AND mentally. So they can go on to be normal, happy horses? Makes me sick

Horses do NOT move like this in on their own.
Not even these big lick horses! UGH! What a horror show! I wonder how long their bodies hold up doing this perversion of gaits last before they are put out, broken and crippled, in the back 40 and starved to death or pawned off on some unsuspecting person who does not know better!

Such a nice breed with so much more to offer than this bastardization of riding.

Maybe the breeders will wake up and realize they could get FAR more money for their horses if they sold them as dressage, equitation, eventing and nice trail horses.

But wait, that would require training with knowledge not gadgets!

"You're horse is behind the vertical!"
"Of course he's behind the vertical, I haven't jumped it yet!" - NLK"I am a sand dancer... just here for the jumps!" - Schrammowww.nshaonline.org

I couldn't help but notice the lack of women showing the "champion" freaky movers. Is this mostly a guy thing?

No, it isn't. Women show these horses in padded classes as much as men do.

The men tend to dominate the 'champion' classes, the 'major' classes, per se. And they are more prone to the slouch.

I will say as a rider of a normal TWH there is something about the motion that does tend the rider to slouch and collapse forward like that. Couple that tendency with the desire to encourage the judge to think the horse is so 'deep' behind that you have to lean forward to stay with him...well....

I have a very uneducated question...are these horses permanently screwed up? Or are there rescues out there who can take these guys (once they'reretired or done showing), and let them back down, both physically AND mentally. So they can go on to be normal, happy horses? Makes me sick

I had a nice TWH who was shown as a stallion - flatshod, TG! - for 6 years.
I got him as a recently-gelded 10yo and being totally ignorant of gaited horses, had a learning curve to deal with before I got him relaxed and not breathing fire whenever my leg touched him or I tried taking up some contact.

I'd had him maybe 6mos when I had my dressage trainer come for a lesson.
I brought him out and her first question was "Wouldn't you like to longe him first?"
A year later she ran into us at a schooling show and could not believe it was the same horse.

BTW: the people who put on that show were kind enough to include 2 Gaited Dressage classes for me & a friend with her Morgan cross.
I had called first to ask if we could do classes w/o being judged.
The judge actually scored me higher in my first class, then called me over to ask about the gaits called for in the test.
Luckily a friend had come to watch and brought with her a friend of hers who raised TWH for dressage and had a champion stallion.
This lady told the judge what to look for and consequently my 2nd test was lower-scored : (

So yes, it is possible depending on the horse, the way he was "trained" for TWH classes and how much physical damage can be undone.

If you read the last few pages there is a new rule through the USEF that the BL can't be held on the same grounds with a USEF show and BL classes are being eliminated from several shows or the shows are being canceled.